Ok, so here's the thing, I read in recently that Activision had bought out like 5 development studios sometime last year, and now those studios don't exist anymore.....that to me looks like an old school EA move, eating up the lil competitor that stood up to the big bully......that to me is pretty lame cos its normally these smaller dev studois that push the boundaries of gaming, they are the ones that think of fresh ideas and run with them, because they don't have a big fatcat on their a$$ saying that their ideas aren't mainstream enough (read: not enough space marines, the colour grey, brown and BROWNER etc etc you know how it is). These guys just come up with a crazy idea, get the cash and make the game the best they can......ok sure sometimes it doesn't work out and it goes all pear-shaped, but when it does, it really is worth taking note. I mean take the game Zeno Clash, came outta nowhere (Chile or Brazil to be exact) and got super solid reviews from websites and ppl around the globe....All over the web you can read on how different it is, from the story, gameplay mechanics and art style, its unique!!! Now I know i'm rambling a bit here so I'll get to the point........ Why is it that Mega Publishers like Activision, EA, THQ and the rest are allowed to do this, ok you get the exception like EA and Bioware (EA ain't gonna touch nothing in the studio for fear of Gamers all over the world burning down their properties) but a lot of the studios that are bought out are simply competitors that these bigshots don't wanna compete with so they just buy em out.....so not cool!!! I reckon there should be a sort of panel that regulates these things so that this constant buying out the fledgeling competition can be stopped. Honestly, I'd like to see more competition and by having more lil dev studios around, we'll see new gameplay ideas, fresh takes on old ideas (ala Zeno Clash and possibly Interstellar Marines, heck even The Witcher) Because if there ain't a stop to this, we may just keep seeing Gears of War clones over and over again...... What do you guys think?? Let me know if I'm right, sorta think I know what I'm talking bout, or am just an idiot =P